


No guests in Jons office

by schrijverr



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: A Guest for Mr. Spider, Arachnophobia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Season/Series 01, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:13:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24912148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrijverr/pseuds/schrijverr
Summary: Set at the start of season one. There is a spider in Jons office when he comes into work, Jon is very afraid of spiders and freaks out. The rest is there and he tells them about his run in with a Leitner.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Sasha James & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker
Comments: 14
Kudos: 173





	No guests in Jons office

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of a note: I've never had a panic attack myself, so if it's inacurate I'm sorry. 
> 
> You can also find this work on my tumblr, @schrijverr. I hope you pop in and say hi!!

Jonathan Sims had never liked spiders. They were gross and they made him uncomfortable. His fear for the spindly creatures had elevated from a mild discomfort to a panic attack after his encounter with Mr. Spider.

It had mellowed out slightly over the years, but that didn’t mean the fear was gone, so when Jon found a spider sitting on the side of his desk when he came into work one morning, he did the only thing that came to mind. 

He screamed.

He had been running late that morning and missed the tube, which meant that the other were already there when it happened. Tim and Martin were out of their chairs and at his side within seconds, Sasha running after them from where she had been between the shelves.

Wide eyed and alert Tim asked: “What’s wrong, boss?” while he scanned the room.

With a shaky hand Jon pointed to the spider. Now that he had regained the ability to move again he quickly stumbled backwards in an attempt to get as far away from the spider as he could. Tim looked between him and the spider and raised a brow as he said: “Really, boss? Afraid of a tiny spider?”

In Jons opinion the spider in question was pretty large and every spider no matter how small was a spider too many. He didn’t say that though, instead opting to say: “Please, just kill it.”

“No.” Martin stepped in, “I can take it outside. The spider hasn’t done anything wrong, we shouldn’t kill it just for existing.”

Jon glared at him and told him: “It is inside, it belongs outside. Enough of a crime, kill it.”

Sasha picked Martins side and said: “Martin is right, Jon. You should be fine once it is gone, why care if it lives or dies?”

Tim nodded, also deciding to be in camp ‘the spider lives’ although Jon couldn’t decide if it was because he believed it or if he just wanted to mess with him.

He ignored it in favor of answering Sasha: “I care, because if it is dead it can’t come back. It’s already gotten in once, it knows the way. I don’t want it here, so please kill it. Now.”

The others were giving more arguments for why the spider should be taken outside, but Jon wasn’t listening. He wasn’t listening, because no one was moving to do something about the spider and it was just sitting there undisturbed. It could move at any moment. It could scuttle away and they wouldn’t be able to get it away and it would be there, but Jon wouldn’t be able to see it, but he would know that it was there. It would be there and able to strike at any moment and Jon wouldn’t be prepared and… 

And he was breathing heavily, worrying himself into a panic attack.

He hadn’t had one since his first week at the Institute, but he couldn’t help it. This was the breaking point for him, apparently. He thought he had grown out of it, but the constant stress of his new position combined with the fear and the helplessness had pushed him over the edge.

His vision was blurring, but also hyper-focused on the spider. He couldn’t breathe and the room was too small. In the distance he heard voice that sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place them through the panicked haze. 

He felt a hand on him, small, warm, Sasha. He almost calmed a bit, but then one of her bracelets tickled his arms and suddenly all he could feel was spiders crawling over his skin. 

Jerking away he started to scratch and rub over his body in an attempt to get them off him. He didn’t care that his assistant were there and he didn’t care that he was ruining the professionalism he had built up so carefully. He just didn’t care. He didn’t care. He just wanted it to be over. 

He wanted the spider dead and he wanted the crawling of his skin to stop, but most of all he wanted to be able to breathe again.

Gasping for air he collapsed to the ground and curled into himself as he tried not to look at the spider or anyone else there. It didn’t help with getting his breath in order and he felt like there was no room for his lungs to expand, but it was safer on the ground. 

Safer curled into himself.

Because he felt a bit safer he could focus more on his surroundings. He heard a voice, male, Martin, he registered. Martin was talking to him. It was mostly meaningless words of comfort that glided over Jon and didn’t help, except maybe grounding him again. What really got his attention, however, was hearing Martin say: “It’s okay, Jon. Tim killed the spider. He’s gone. The spider is gone.”

He peaked out over his knees and with a soft and weak voice he asked: “Really? It’s, it’s gone?”

Martin nodded and smiled. “It’s gone. Just breathe, it’s all okay. Don’t worry.”

Slowly Jon got his breathing under control and after a few minutes he felt good enough to uncurl some more, although he didn’t try to get up from his sitting position.

Sasha had disappeared a few moments earlier, but she now returned with a big glass of water that she handed to him as she told him to take small sips. He did and it was quiet until Jon was about halfway through emptying the glass. Then Tim asked: “Want to tell us what that was all about, boss?”

Jon stared at the ground and took another sip, trying to ignore them. 

It didn’t work. Martin was kneeling in his sight and he could see Sasha legs on one side and Tims outline by the door. He mumbled: “I don’t like spiders.”

“Why?” Tim asked and Sasha told him: “Let him calm down for a moment, before you interrogate him.” 

“Yeah,” Martin agreed, “He’s probably exhausted right now.”

And Jon was, the adrenaline was wearing off and the tiredness was seeping into his bones. He blinked heavily and swayed a bit. He didn’t want to be tired, he still had a lot to do and there could be more spiders or they could’ve lied to him to get him to calm down. His throat tightened again and he had to make sure. Ignoring Martins protest he crawled to the door of his office and peered inside.

The spider was gone. 

Where it had sat was now a dark brown stain. A small sense of security came over him and he carefully cataloged the entire office to make sure there weren’t any other spiders lingering. He let out a relieved sigh when he found nothing and turned back to the other who were watching him with different stages of confusion and concern written over their faces.

Slowly he got up, almost falling over before Martin caught him and steadied him. He shot him a grateful smile as he held on until he could stand on his own again. Then he dusted himself off and politely said: “Thank you for removing the spider, lets all get back to work now.”

He was still exhausted and was planning to collapse on the couch once everyone was gone, which he hoped would be soon, since he was fighting to suppress a yawn that was threatening to crawl up his throat. He didn’t like that analogy and shuddered slightly, but he then got distracted by Tim, who demanded: “Oh no, you’re not glossing over this just like that.”

Jon frowned. He wanted to argue that he had a right to his privacy and that he didn’t need to explain a phobia if he didn’t want to, but that also seemed like a lot of work. Instead he opted for ignoring Tim and walking to his couch where he flopped down.

Tim cut of the indignant comment he was making about being ignored when Jon did that and just turned to Martin and Sasha with a bewildered expression. Martin gave him a sympathetic smile and said: “I think you can interrogate him once he has woken up again and gotten some rest.”

Looking back to Jon, he found Jon already asleep. He looked different without the worry lines and scowl, he looked young and vulnerable. A strange feeling crept up Tims spine as he realized Jon was much closer to his age than he initially thought. That he wasn’t weathered by age, but by stress.

He decided to let him rest and followed the other two back to their desk. Although not much work got done that morning as they all shot glances to the half open door of Jons office.

It was nearing lunch when Jon reemerged. He looked a bit better, less pale and more present. The heavy concern flowed out of the room as three pairs of shoulders relaxed.

Going for a more light and less interrogative tone Tim stood up and said: “Hey, boss, looking a bit better, I see. Are you alright?”

Jon tensed slightly as he answered: “Yes, I’m fine now, sorry for my earlier episode. I didn’t mean to alarm anyone, it was just unexpected that’s all.”

“No, don’t worry about it. We should be sorry for not listening to you and arguing about it for so long.” Sasha said, “Sorry we pushed you.”

“It’s alright, Sasha.” Jon assured her, “You didn’t know about this phobia of mine. You were just trying to do what you thought was right, I can hardly fault you for that.”

“Is it really just a phobia?” Tim asked, trying to get the conversation back on track, “Or did something happen to you? I know some arachnophobes, but I’ve never seen a reaction like that.”

Martin could see Jons muscles tighten and saw how he was retreating back into himself, so he decided to save him by saying: “You don’t have to answer, of course. We were just curious that’s all.”

Jon scanned all their faces, trying to find a reason to get angry, to shut them out and be able to forget. He only found genuine concern and curiosity, no malice. 

He looked down and fiddled the hem of his shirt as he tried to find the words to explain this as short as possible. He swallowed once before he said: “When I was younger, around ten, I had a run in with a Leitner. It was called _A Guest for Mr. Spider_ and if you read it, you would be compelled to knock on a door, I was about to knock when, I can’t recall his name, but he was a bit of a bully, decided to push me down and attempt to make fun of what I was reading. He read it and knocked in my place, I only saw two big hairy spindly legs pull him in. No one ever saw or heard from him again.”

A heavy silence fell over the Archives and when it dragged on Jon tried to defend himself: “It’s stupid, I know. It was probably-”

He got cut off by Tim, who said: “It’s not stupid.”, he knew how uncomfortable he still got around clowns, he couldn’t imagine how he would be if he had gone through that as a child, “It’s _not_.” he said again.

Martin and Sasha quickly backed him up in assuring Jon that his little freak out about the spider was completely normal and nothing to be ashamed off. Jon relaxed bit by bit until he smiled slightly and thanked them once again for getting rid of the spider and apologizing once more for the entire thing. 

After that they all wordlessly agreed to never speak of it again and without telling Jon the other three tried to remove spiders from the Archive sneakily. It was in vain, of course, but for now the Web didn’t mind that much. It still had enough eyes on the place.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are appreciated, they're my life and I love them, so thank you if you left any <3


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